Featured What am I? Victorian bar pin made of ...something.

I just hope it's not tortoise. Is it amber, horn, or something we can't sell?

 

Did you get a UV on it?

 

No joy with the UV. Then again neither do the three pieces of modern amber I picked up ... at least probable amber. Possible fakes.

 

Perplexing. Looks like we got nowhere with these last year:

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/v...ll-plastic-necklace-celluloid-galalith.28937/

I don't know how well genuine tortoise lent itself to beads this shape or to spheres. I haven't made a study, but most tortoise I run into is flatter & thinner: hair ornaments; snuff box sides; cameos made either by pressing or in 2 pieces. Even if material were thick enough, not sure you would want to cut out something that would result in as much waste as these would.

 

Kind of what I was hoping. It feels plastic-y. It doesn't have the striations of horn, but that would make a lot more sense than tortoise.

 

Almost looks too translucent to be tortoise and doesn't look like amber. What are the other choices?

 

Horn?

 

These are described as buffalo horn.

 

I think it is safe to sell, and it doesn't look like amber to me.
It is an oldie. It could be horn or celluloid imo. Celluloid was the earliest thermoplastic, and it was used to simulate tortoiseshell and horn as well as other natural materials.

 

Love it @evelyb30!

Are they set from behind where we can't see it? Glued or strung?

It looks very petite.

 

@Bronwen Tortoiseshell is the original "plastic" and can be heat formed into just about anything of *any* thickness if you have enough of it, although usually "thin" as you say, is more common.
Here's one of my own favourite dress canes that features a silver mounted "solid" tortoiseshell handle and a pair of salmon on the band.

 

Hummm... sorry, but my feeling is turtle shell
As blooey said, turtle shell sheets can be join together with heat and pressure to get thick pieces.
Not as milky/opalescent as horn. Plastic will need the (in)famous taste test

 

It is beautiful blooey, do you use it at all?

 

This little guy, a Bali keris hilt, is blonde (water)buffalo horn:


A bit blurry, it was cropped from a photo of a row of keris hilts.

 

I have some earrings that arrived in a job lot that I'm sure are tortoise shell. The react to UV in a similar way to Amber but it didn't sit quite right with me as they had the dark stripes. In my research I found some more coyly described as 'marine shell' and also discovered that tortoiseshell reacts to UV. I don't know how accurate my research is about tortoiseshell but I had some horn earrings that reacted to UV too.

 

Not yet, but funny story (as usual) - when I bought it, someone had fitted a made in China tripod stabilizer to the pointy end, so the cane stood up on its own. Imagine my delight when I looked at the price tag which read "Made in China cane $10"

 

Lucky you! Wonderful find

 

LOL, knowed it was comin!

 

James!

 

Tell me all. What plastic am I tasting?. I'm already sitting in dark closets, licking China, chinking beads against my teeth and grinding pearls, what have I missed?